ICCA REGISTRY
An online platform that pinpoints territories and areas conserved by indigenous peoples and local communities
Introduction
The ICCA Registry is the official representation for Indigenous peoples to share their conservation stories and state the boundaries of their territories to the rest of the world. With the prevalent threat for ICCAs worldwide to lose their native land, there’s a demand for understanding how vital these conserved areas are for biodiversity contributions to the global databases that will increase the urgent recognition of the ICCAs
Solution
To provide visibility for the ICCAs and raise awareness of the significance of Indigenous peoples’ community-led conservation practices. This is made possible by allowing full ownership for the ICCA custodians who choose to register their territories to be displayed on the platform and be recognised by the unique manner they govern their land by the global database
Problem statement
The ICCA registry platform isn't centred around the Indigenous peoples and their local community. It is difficult for visitors to grasp the unlying purpose of the website and navigate to find vital information about the ICCAs globally
Research
User research data for the ICCA registry was collected through interviews as well as a HOTJAR survey.
13
6
Interviewees
Interviews
21
Questionnaire respondents
10 participants considered themselves members or representatives of NGOs or the ICCA Consortium
Majority of questionnaire respondents were from Africa, other regions were very under-represented
48% were NGOs members
23% were ICCAs custodians - consider themselves members of Indigenous peoples or local communities
*Results indicates biased towards the viewpoint of NGPs and African repondents.
Key usability findings
We also monitored heat maps as a method to track how users journeyed through the website to obtain the information they are looking for. Below is the old ICCA registry which wanted to learn how it served the needs to the users.
User Types
ICCA Custodian
As a member of an ICCA, I want to share information that might enable us to avoid threats to our community and environment, but I am also concerned about not letting information into the wrong hands
ICCA Custodian Representative, NGO
As a representative of an ICCA working with an NGO, I need to help my ICCA community to collect and share any information which would contribute to achieving our objectives. At the heart of it, these objectives are about protecting and enhancing the lives of our community and the natural environment around us
Private Sector, Risk Checker
I work on creating environmental risk profiles for new and existing marine oil and gas projects. I have some familiarity with GIS and I always focus on the specifics of a project area and what falls within the project area polygon on a map. I am the key source of environmental information for my team
Government Spatial Advisor
As a permit issuer, I want to find information about the environment and social value of an area so that I can assess whether to grant a permit to private companies wanting to operate in that area
“ I want my community’s rights to be respected. We have been looking after our land in a way ‘conservationists’ might see as slightly different,
but ICCA status could help us to secure more freedoms for our community and environment”.
User stories
We also monitored heat maps as a method to track how users journeyed through the website to obtain the information they are looking for. Below is the old ICCA registry which wanted to learn how it served the needs to the users.
Core customer needs
Recognition of the ICCA communities and their contribution to the conservation of land and biodiversity
Aid in creating a worldwide network of ICCAs, enabling custodians to share knowledge, endorse shared actions and recognise their collective importance in the global community
Access important information and more detailed qualitative data about individual ICCAs, subject to the consent of ICCA custodians
Showcase where ICCAs are located and how they define their boundaries
Contribute to an expanding knowledge base that can shape policies on conservation, rights and other relevant ICCA-related issues
Enabling the storage of ICCA information within the Indigenous communities that can track progress towards their ICCA objectives for protecting and enhancing the lives of the community and the environment
User stories
We also monitored heat maps as a method to track how users journeyed through the website to obtain the information they are looking for. Below is the old ICCA registry which wanted to learn how it served the needs to the users.
Advocating for a better user flow
Significant changes were made to how users viewed and interacted with the map. Areas covered by the Indigenous peoples registered as ICCAs populated the map, and users could read stories of success in the case studies. The global narrative is presented visually allowing users to learn more about the core objectives of the ICCAs to enhance their way of life.
Initially, the project was presented to our team to conduct user research and redesign the look and feel of the homepage. As the UI designer for this project, I wanted to showcase the design as required by the client but advocated for a new page where the values and threats towards the ICCAs could be more accessible.
This would liberate the home page from the apparent cognitive load allowing the content to serve the purpose of promoting the value of territories of life for ICCAs.
Below is the first iteration of the designs:
A purposeful introduction to the value and legitimacy of the ICCAs
At the final stage of the design phase, we separated the cluttered home page into 2 pages The home page now serves the purpose of introducing users to the ICCAs and their contribution to the conversation of land and biodiversity in their local communities.
Stories of impact as case studies on the homepage show evidence of contribution towards the global conservation efforts to inspire other Indigenous communities to share their success stories for visibility without the threat of their land being taken away.
The purpose of the summary page is to highlight the diversity in ownership and governance over land owned by Indigenous peoples at a global scale. This page also showcases the core objectives needed to improve the quality of life for ICCA-registered communities.
Design systems
The design system is arranged in an atomic way whereby each element available justifies the way components are presented. The maroon colour present in many components served as a challenge, here I could’ve presented the data visualisation for the categories monochromatically with varying shades of maroon but I took this as an opportunity to introduce more colour into the project.
The colours selected for each category support the narrative of the threats faced by the ICCAs and their territories, for example, a choice of red-orange to represent threats, green to represent habitat, purple to represent governance and so on.
Future Recommendations
The current designs showcase the value and legitimacy of ICCAs by pinpointing their territories of life at a global scale. While this is essential, more designs are needed to allow users to learn more about specific areas and the local communities. This design will allow the user to capture the main objectives for that particular ICCA community.
However, as it stands the ICCA registry platform doesn’t have a streamlined capacity for Indigenous peoples to register their land for the ICCA status.
What did I learn?
As the UI designer for this project, I leveraged the user research conducted to understand the user needs to craft purposeful user stories that I would address in the design process. Through maintaining a strong client relationship, I asked questions that allowed me to learn about the impact they would like to have to better advocate for the Indigenous people around the world.
While working within budget limitations, I’ve learned to identify design challenges and explore solutions that would deliver the clients' objectives while advocating for the user's needs.
